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How can the physical environment, especially light, facilitate conflict resolution? Previous research has led to no clear answers about optimal lighting conditions in conflict situations and, until now, potential moderators and mediators have been scarcely investigated. Building on research on light-induced cooperativeness, we expected that self-oriented individuals would be influenced by the lighting in social situations such as conflict resolution. In self-oriented individuals, dim warm light should promote interdependent self-construal and, in turn, lead to a preference for collaborative conflict resolution strategies. Two studies confirmed our assumptions, with social dominance orientation and trait interdependent self-construal serving as indicators of individuals' social orientation. Overall, these results provide an explanation for inconsistent previous findings and contribute to the understanding of light-induced changes in social behavior. Limitations as well as practical implications for lighting design in social spaces are discussed.
Increasing and new work demands drain employees’ energy resources at work. This four-week longitudinal field experiment investigated the energizing potential of a respite intervention conducted at the workplace (either a simulated savoring nature intervention or a progressive muscle relaxation intervention). First, growth modeling analyses confirmed a linear trend for the growth of vigor and decline in fatigue across the days of the intervention group, indicating a typical upward resource trajectory. No changes appeared in the control group. Mediation analyses indicated that repeatedly engaging in a daily respite intervention influenced more stable energy levels after the intervention period indirectly through the immediate changes in daily energy levels during the intervention period. Findings suggest that, in some cases, respite interventions may present a useful tool to replenish and build energy resources at work. Implications for using respite intervention in organizational research and practice are discussed.
The aim of this study was to test the effects of a daily positive work reflection intervention on fostering personal resources (i.e., hope and optimism) and decreasing exhaustion (i.e., emotional exhaustion and fatigue) among caregivers for the elderly and caregivers who provide services at patients' homes. Using an intervention/waitlist control group design, 46 caregivers in an intervention group were compared with 44 caregivers in a control group at 3 points of measurement: pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at a 2-week follow-up. The results show that emotional exhaustion and fatigue were reduced for the intervention group. Primarily, caregivers with a high need for recovery at baseline benefited from the intervention. The results reveal no intervention effects for personal resources; however, they reveal a trend that the intervention led to an increase in hope and optimism among caregivers with a high need for recovery. Overall, the findings show that caregivers benefit from a daily positive work reflection intervention, particularly when their baseline levels of resources and well-being are low.
Research has shown that colours influence motivation and cognitive performance. In achievement contexts, red evokes avoidance motivation that hinders creativity, while blue elicits an approach motivation that facilitates creativity. However, due to their position and mode of presentation, colours may convey a different message. Red accent lighting creates a cosy, friendly room atmosphere that may, even in an achievement context, elicit an approach rather than an avoidance motivation. Results (N = 146) showed that both blue and red accent light increased strategic approach motivation compared to white accent light. Moreover, through the heightened approach motivation, colourful accent light indirectly improved creative performance. Implications for future research on colour and practical implications for colour usage are discussed. Practitioner Summary Designing work environments for creativity is a new topic in ergonomics research and practice. The present study demonstrates indirect effects of coloured accent light on creativity providing interesting possibilities for the design of work places for knowledge workers, classrooms, and all other rooms in which people work on new ideas.
Der Arbeitsplatz – die räumlichen, physikalischen und ergonomischen Bedingungen, unter denen Menschen arbeiten – kann auf vielfältige Weise die Gesundheit fördern und gefährden. Neben der direkten Wirkung auf die physische Gesundheit kann der Arbeitsplatz die Durchführung der Arbeitsaufgaben erleichtern oder behindern und das Wohlbefinden durch eine bedürfnisgerechte Gestaltung erhöhen. Die Gestaltung gesundheitsförderlicher Arbeitsplätze beinhaltet den Arbeitsraum und die dort herrschenden physikalischen Bedingungen ebenso wie die Möblierung und IT-Ausstattung.
The Covid-19 pandemic and the Online Access Act (Onlinezugangsgesetz – OZG) are forcing Germany's public administration to accelerate digital transformation in general and the digitalization of agencies on federal, state and municipal level in particular. To assess this endeavor’s progress, existing e-Government maturity models were evaluated. The majority of models mainly focus on technical characteristics of an administrative act, while disregarding the importance of (1) public servants, (2) their work situation and (3) organizational processes. It is the latter three determining successful digitalization. Consequently, we fuse previous e-Government maturity models with the individual perspective of public servants including internet-based work, virtualization of teams and societal participation. This paper describes the synthesis of a model, its advantages and limitations including next steps towards its empirical validation.
Germany's public administrations must go digital by law till 2022. The German Online Access Act (our translation for “Onlinezugangsgesetz”, OZG) forces most services offered by public administration on federal, federal state and municipal level to become digitized. For most of these services still being paper-based and Germany not being one of the leaders in e- government according to many sources, the question of user acceptance arises. For answering the question whether the approach used in the digitalization labs leads to the development of digital public services that are accepted by future users, we conducted a heuristic evaluation of a prototype that was developed within the implementation of the OZG. The paper describes the setting, the test undertaken and the outcome and concludes with an estimate, whether the huge paradigm change towards the development of digital public services that are accepted by future users will be successful or not.
To deal with stress and exhaustion at work, personal resources need to be replenished during breaks. The aim of this laboratory study (n = 122 students) was to test the restorative potential of sensory-enriched break environments (SEBEs) in a between-subjects with repeated measures design, focusing on the type of the environment (natural outdoor vs. built indoor environment) and sensory input (no sensory input vs. audiovisual input vs. audiovisual and olfactory input). Analyses showed that SEBEs simulating either a natural or a lounge environment were perceived as more pleasant and restorative (fascination/being away) than a standard break room, which in turn facilitated the recovery of personal resources (mood, fatigue, arousal). Moreover, adding a congruent scent to an audiovisual simulation indirectly facilitated the recovery of personal resources via greater scent pleasantness and higher fascination and being away. The current study shows opportunities for sensory enrichment to foster restoration in break environments. Practitioner Summery: This project reveals the impact of the recovery process of simulated environments on personal resources. Analyses confirmed that sensory-enriched environments were perceived as more restorative than less enriched environments, which in turn facilitated the recovery of personal resources. The results highlight the relevance of holistic sensory impressions to fostering recovery.
Promoting integrative negotiations – an experimental approach for using colored lighting in negotiation situations. Employees' negotiating skills substantially contribute to organizational success. In this context, recent research shows that the physical environment may influence interpersonal behavior for example in negations. The present study investigated the importance of colored light for cooperative behavior in integrative negotiations. The authors assumed that red light creates a pleasant, socially friendly atmosphere and thus promotes negotiation success. In an experimental study, the light color (red vs. blue and white) was varied. The results confirmed the assumption. The theoretical value, limitations and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
Positive psychology interventions (PPIs) in the work context aim to enhance the experience of work for individuals and improve wellbeing through developing psychological resources. This chapter reviews four types of positive interventions: gratitude, mindfulness, positive reflection, and positive reappraisal, and discusses their effectiveness based on past research. We then discuss several key considerations for implementing positive psychology interventions in the workplace, considering when and for whom they are beneficial. Finally, we conclude with our reflections on what future research and the practical application of positive psychology interventions in the workplace should strive for.
This article investigates the interplay between darkness, construal level, and psychological distance based on the link between environmental lighting conditions and visual perception. In the dark, visual perception becomes less focused and detailed, leading to more abstract representations. We argue that this link between physical darkness and a global perceptual processing style spills over to the conceptual level. In three experiments, darkness triggered a more global perceptual and conceptual processing style than did brightness, regardless of whether the darkness was physically manipulated or primed. Additionally, two Implicit Association Tests (IATs) showed that darkness is more strongly associated with high-level construal than with low-level construal. Moreover, drawing on the generalized link between construal level and psychological distance, we proposed that darkness is also linked to perceived psychological distance because the lack of detail information and the abstract representations in the dark remove objects and other persons from people’s direct, detailed experience. Eight IATs confirmed the implicit link between darkness and four dimensions of psychological distance. These implications of these results are discussed with regard to thinking styles and social processes like stereotyping and cooperation.
Impulse and reflection jointly drive people's behavior. However, the impact of the physical environment, especially light and brightness, on reflective and impulsive behavior and the underlying processes have not been understood. We expected that light and brightness would increase self-awareness and, in turn, lead to a reflective and controlled self-regulation. Five studies confirmed our assumptions. Particularly, participants in a brightly lit room reported a higher public self-awareness than those in a dim room. Moreover, brightness triggers more controlled and reflective forms of self-regulation independent of whether lighting conditions (Study 2) or priming methods (Study 3) were used to manipulate brightness. Finally, two additional studies revealed that brightness facilitates the suppression of desires and socially undesirable impulses which signals high self-control. Overall, these results contribute to the understanding of automatic effects of light and brightness and effortless self-control. Limitations as well as practical implications for lighting design in therapeutical settings and retail spaces and are discussed.
Purpose ‐ Regulatory focus theory (RFT) can successfully predict and describe organizational behaviour and managerial decision making. However, no empirical study has tested its central assumption in an organizational context. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between employee's regulatory focus and their work priorities. Design/methodology/approach ‐ In total, 307 employees from the public and private sectors in Germany participated and three organizational priorities were confirmed in a confirmatory factor analysis: growth, existence, and relatedness aspects. Their relationship with employee's regulatory focus was analyzed using multi-level modeling. Findings ‐ It was found that employees' promotion and prevention focus were related to specific work priorities: the higher a person's promotion focus, the more the person valued growth aspects. The higher the prevention focus, the more the person valued existence-related work aspects. Both regulatory foci increased the importance of good relationships at work. Research limitations/implications ‐ The findings provide new insights into previous research on the impact of personality traits, especially regulatory focus, on job-related attitudes like job satisfaction or job commitment. Practical implications ‐ The results are useful for leaders and human resource managers aiming to understand the driving forces behind employee's job motivation and decisions. Originality/value ‐ This is the first study to address the central question of different priorities associated with promotion and prevention focus in the organizational field. Results provide insight into previous findings on the impact of regulatory focus on job-related attitudes and offer practical implications for practitioners interested in job motivation and decision making.
Die Umgebungstemperatur übt einen vielfältigen Einfluss auf Gesundheit, Wohlbefinden und Leistungsfähigkeit des Menschen aus. Durch die zunehmende Verlagerung von Arbeitsplätzen in Büros rückt der Bereich der moderaten Wärmebelastung, wie er beispielsweise in natürlich belüfteten Gebäuden im Sommer auftritt, in den Fokus. Hierzu ist aus der bisherigen empirischen Forschung ein Zusammenhang zwischen Raumtemperatur und Arbeitsleistung ermittelt worden, der allerdings verschiedene Nachteile für die Tauglichkeit als Planungskriterium für Gebäude aufweist. Der in der Psychologie weit verbreitete Ansatz der Meta-Analyse kann dabei einen wertvollen Beitrag zur Lösung dieses Problems leisten. In dem Beitrag wird systematisch die Methode der Meta-Analyse aufgezeigt und anhand einiger konkreter Beispiele das Potential für eine Integration von nutzerbasierten Verhaltensmustern in eine Gebäudesimulation dargestellt.
Employee creativity is critical to organizational competitiveness. However, the potential contribution made by the workspace and the physical environment is not fully taken into account because, up to now, it has been rather unclear how aspects of the physical environment, especially light, can support creativity. Consequently, in six studies, the present research investigated the effect of light and darkness on creative performance. We expected that darkness would offer individuals freedom from constraints, enabling a global and explorative processing style, which in turn facilitates creativity. First, four studies demonstrated that both priming darkness and actual dim illumination improved creative performance. The priming studies revealed that the effect can occur outside of people's awareness and independent of differences in visibility. Second, two additional studies tested the underlying mechanism and showed that darkness elicits a feeling of being free from constraints and triggers a risky, explorative processing style. As expected, perceived freedom from constraints mediated the effect of dim illumination on creativity. Third, moderation analyses demonstrated the effects' boundary conditions: the darkness-related increase in creativity disappeared when using a more informal indirect light instead of direct light or when evaluating ideas instead of generating creative ideas. In sum, these results contribute to the understanding of visual atmospheres (i.e. visual messages), their importance for lighting effects, and their impact via conceptual links and attentional tuning. Limitations as well as practical implications for lighting design are discussed
Grounded and embodied cognitions have gained increasing interest in explaining the effects of the physical environments on social cognition and behavior. However, the very nature of the processes underlying embodiment is largely unknown. The current research aims at contributing to this issue by (1) differentiating between the embodiment of contents and procedures, (2) unfolding the processes underlying mechanism of an embodied procedure, and (3) showing its boundary conditions. Seven experiments investigated these refinements using the examples of darkness, self-construal, and cooperation in social dilemmas. The results provided consistent evidence that darkness triggers interdependent self-construal, which in turn promotes cooperation. Moreover, the individual's internal context and external context moderated the darkness-cooperation effect. These results contribute to the understanding of embodied and situated social cognition and behavior and provide a consistent explanation for the mixed findings of lighting on cooperation in particular and prosocial behavior in general.
Im Zeitalter der Wissensarbeit steigt die Bedeutung mentaler und psychologischer Faktoren wie Konzentrationsfähigkeit, Stimmung und Motivation für eine hohe Leistungsfähigkeit. Die physikalischen Bedingungen an Büroarbeitsplätzen können einerseits einen Stressor darstellen, der die Konzentration erschöpft und den Nutzer ermüdet, oder eine räumliche Ressource, die Arbeitstätigkeiten erleichtert oder Nutzerbedürfnisse befriedigt und dadurch Engagement und Stimmung bei der Arbeit steigert. Inwiefern bestimmte räumliche Bedingungen am Arbeitsplatz eine Ressource oder einen Stressor darstellen, lässt sich anhand der drei Ebenen des Komforts abschätzen: physischer, funktionaler und psychischer Komfort. Ein solcher Ansatz soll helfen, “psychisch nachhaltige“ physikalische Raumbedingungen zu schaffen, die die psychischen Ressourcen der Nutzer schonen. Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird dieses neue Verständnis von Komfort mithilfe der zugrunde liegenden psychologischen Prozesse erklärt und am Beispiel der bauphysikalischen Variablen “Beleuchtung“ illustriert.
Not Motivated to Act During Goal Pursuit: Powerlessness Blocks Motivation Transfer in Goal Systems
(2013)
The current research investigates a motivational mechanism that contributes to the inferior goal striving and attainment of powerless individuals: the transfer of motivation from goals to means. We expected that this mechanism would work effectively only in powerful individuals. The results of an experiment and a field study confirmed our assumptions. The more motivated powerful people were to attain the goals, the more they engaged in self-determined action and, in turn, the more positively they experienced goal-related activities. No such relation was found for their powerless counterparts. Implications for power research and goal systems theory are discussed.